Strategy & Leadership
Grow from Your Strengths
The only sustainable way to capture new opportunities is to remain true to what your company does best.
Issue 80, Autumn 2015
Cover story
In this issue
Strategy & LeadershipInteractive20 Questions for Business Leaders
The entire history of management ideas can be seen as a series of answers to a few pragmatic queries.
Consumer ProductsHow Adidas Found Its Second Wind
The sportswear giant’s embrace of its heritage shows how reconnecting with the past can inspire a company’s future.
Strategy & LeadershipThe future of management is teal
Organizations are moving forward along an evolutionary spectrum, toward self-management, wholeness, and a deeper sense of purpose.
Thought LeadersHow Tech Clusters Form
Rutgers professor Brett Gilbert describes the development of entrepreneurial communities, from Silicon Valley to Johannesburg.
Thought LeadersLotte Bailyn is redefining the rules of work and family
Debates over paid leave, wage increases, and flexible work arrangements, says the MIT professor, all stem from a larger assumption that personal and business needs are in conflict.
Features
Capable DealmakerStrategy & LeadershipDeals that win
Twelve years of data shows that mergers and acquisitions that apply or enhance capabilities produce superior returns.
EnergyA Strategist’s Guide to Power Industry Transformation
The way we create, use, and manage electricity is finally changing, and the implications go far beyond the utility sector.
Organizations & PeopleBeyond Bias
Neuroscience research shows how new organizational practices can shift ingrained thinking.
Leading Ideas
FinanceMobile Payments: The Delay of Instant Gratification
Platforms like Apple Pay and Google Wallet will need to ensure a seamless and secure experience for merchants and consumers.
FinanceThe New Geography of M&A
Before industrial companies sell assets, they must understand the motivations of the full array of potential buyers, especially those emerging in the East.
s+b BlogsStrategy & LeadershipVertical integration 2.0: An old strategy makes a comeback
More companies are seeking greater control of their value chain — but they should do so with caution.
Global PerspectiveThe Next Innovation Opportunity in China
Multinationals are shifting their R&D focus from cost savings to knowledge-based research.
Strategy & Leaderships+b Trend Watch: 20 Years of strategy+business
Two decades of management coverage, charted by topic.
Essays
Organizations & People20/20 Foresight
Many business leaders need to improve their perceptual acuity. Here’s how you can develop the ability to look around corners — and become a catalyst for change.
HealthcareStaking Your Claim in the Healthcare Gold Rush
Revolutionary changes in the delivery, financing, and management of healthcare present a choice: Do you want to be a gold miner or a bartender?
Books in Brief
The Race Goes to the Bold
Thriving amid rapid change, authors Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler argue, requires a fearlessness that borders on hubris.
s+b BlogsThe Wright Stuff
In a new biography of the brothers who invented the airplane, David McCullough describes the frustrations and triumphs involved in getting aviation off the ground.
The Prescriptions of Dr. Sachs
The eminent — and controversial — economist offers a set of cures for the ills of global poverty. It’s not clear the medicine works.
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Addressing climate change with a sense of urgency isn’t a matter of morality, two economists argue. It’s about managing risk.
Recent Research
s+b BlogsWhat Makes a Company More Likely to Protect LGBT Rights?
Attracting new employees and doing right by its current workforce aren’t the only factors that lead a company to adopt LGBT-friendly HR policies.
Trending articles
- 1.What leaders get wrong about responsibility
Effective leadership isn’t about giving or taking responsibility—it’s about sharing it.
- 2.Reimagining consumer insights at PepsiCo
Stephan Gans, PepsiCo’s Chief Consumer Insights and Analytics Officer, wants to bake real-time, data-rich insights into the food-and-beverage giant’s commercial decision-making processes.
- 3.Want to set yourself apart? Own your job.
For the ambitious employee, a deep sense of accountability is the one thing that matters most.
- 4.10 principles of organization designThese fundamental guidelines, drawn from experience, can help you reshape your organization to fit your business strategy. See also “A guide to organization design.”
- 5.How fearless organizations succeedAmy Edmondson describes three steps leaders can take to create psychological safety, the prerequisite for greater innovation and growth.
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